Teachers in U.S., Australia face time behind bars for sex offences involving students
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Two female teachers thousands of kilometres apart are facing time behind bars following sexual misconduct convictions involving their students.
In one case, a former Kentucky high school teacher reached a deal with prosecutors that involved pleading guilty to sexual abuse.
In the other, an Australian educator has been sentenced to jail for having sex with one student and sexually touching another.
Authorities in Kentucky accused 29-year-old Rachel Clement, who taught at Henderson High School in Henderson, earlier this year of sending sexual messages to students by phone or by social media.
A police investigation was launched in May after a report was made to school officials, who then contacted law enforcement.
Copped to plea deal
Clement initially pleaded not guilty in June, The Hendersonian reported , before copping to the plea deal when the charges were amended, according to NBC affiliate WFIE .
Court documents obtained by WFIE show Clement pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual abuse and one count of tampering with physical evidence.
The plea deal also involves Clement never teaching again, being placed on the sex offender registry, and not contacting the victim or Henderson County Schools.
Clement faces up to three years in prison for each sexual abuse count and five years on the tampering charge.
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Meanwhile, a teacher Down Under has been sentenced to more than a year in jail after being found guilty of having sex with a 17-year-old student in his car and sexually touching a 16-year-old pupil in a classroom.
Tayla Lee Brailey, 32, was arrested in August 2024 at a Sydney school after police investigated reports that a student had been sexually touched, reports The Canberra Times .
Court heard that Brailey, who had been a teacher for four years, added the 17-year-old student on Snapchat but warned him not to reveal their connection.
Exchanged sexually-explicit photos
After they exchanged sexually-explicit photos, the student arrived at her home where they kissed and touched each other, the court was told.
Later, Brailey was at school when she texted the student a photo of herself. He suggested they get together somewhere, and they met and had sex in his car before she returned to class.
In another incident, Brailey added a 16-year-old student on social media and sent him a photo of herself taking a shower and writing, “do you like what you see?”
The judge told the court that she asked for an explicit photo of the teen. After he sent her a picture of himself, she replied “yum.”
At one point, Brailey asked the student to stay after class and kissed him with her tongue and they touched each other’s genitals in a classroom.
“Throughout her offending, Ms. Brailey knew what she was doing was wrong but she persisted with it,” Judge Elizabeth Ryan told the court.
Brailey pleaded guilty to five offences including sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old under special care and sexually touching a 16-year-old under special care. She was sentenced to 15 months in jail and will be eligible for parole in April.